What Will I Wear

What are some of the most difficult decisions you make every morning?

For some of you to get out of bed is difficult. For many the first decision you make is to hit the snooze alarm at least once if not several times before you get up. For some what you will eat for breakfast is the most difficult decision you will make. But for most of us the most difficult decision we will make each day is what to wear.

What kind of clothes does the Bible tell us to put on?

Righteousness: Job 29:14 – “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.”

Contemporary English Version (CEV): “Kindness and justice were my coat and hat.”

God’s Word (GW): “I put on righteousness, and it was my clothing. I practiced justice and it was my robe and my turban.”

The word righteousness means, “what is right or just or normal, rightness, justness (of weights and measures).” It is putting on “justice” being fair and honest in all the things we do.

Job said, “it clothed me.” It was his covering. He dressed himself with righteousness/justice every day.

It says that his “justice” was like a robe. The word “robe” denotes the “mantle” or outer garment that is worn by an Oriental. It constitutes the most elegant part of his dress. The idea is that his strict justice was to him what the full flowing robe was in apparel. It was that for which he was best known; that by which he was distinguished, as one would be by an elegant and costly robe.

Praise: Isaiah 61:1-3 – “(1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; (2) To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, (3) To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

We are to take off the garment of heaviness and exchange it for a garment of praise.

“For the spirit of heaviness” - Instead of a heavy, burdened, and oppressed spirit. The word used here (kēhâh), usually means faint, feeble, weak. It is applied to a lamp about to go out Isaiah_42:3; to eyes that are dull 1Samuel_3:2; to a faint or pale color Leviticus_13:39. Here it denotes those of a faint and desponding heart.

How many here have ever had on a garment of heaviness? How many of you here today have on a garment of heaviness? If you have on a garment of heaviness today I want to exchange garments with you today. I want you to give me your garment of heaviness and I want to give you a garment of praise.

There is something about praising God that takes away heaviness.

Holy Spirit Power: Luke 24:49 – “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (NIV).

The word endue carries the idea of “to clothe.” Before they were to begin their ministry of witnessing about Jesus they needed to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Armor of Light: Romans 13:12 – “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

The word “put on” means: clothe.

Light dispels darkness; no matter how dark it is darkness cannot put out light. Light will always shine in darkness; darkness cannot penetrate light. As long as we walk in the light, put on light, commune with the light darkness want be able to enter into our lives. It is when we drift away from the light that darkness begins to invade our lives; it is when we cut off light that darkness begins to take hold.

We must cast off darkness – darkness representing anything that has to do with satan or evil. If there is evil in our lives we open the door for the devil but the devil has to flee in the face of light. He alludes to persons throwing off their bed clothes, and covering of the night, and putting on proper raiment for the day. By "works of darkness" are meant evil works, which are opposite to the light; to God, who is light itself; to Christ, the light of the world; to the word of God, both law and Gospel, which is a light to our paths.